State-sponsored lotteries are now a popular and accepted method of generating revenue in place of taxes. One popular form of the lotteries is the Lotto-type game where the player selects his own numbers, for example by filling out a computer card, and receives a lottery ticket which has been printed with his selected numbers. A drawing is then held at a later time to determine the winning numbers. Another popular form of lottery uses the so-called instant lottery tickets, on which winning or non-winning combinations are preprinted before distribution so that no later drawing is necessary and the player knows immediately after purchasing his ticket whether or not he has won.
The usual system for distributing Lotto-type lottery tickets includes a large number of ticket-dispensing remote units located at drug stores, supermarkets, liquor stores and the like. Each unit is independent and is operated by the store owner, who customarily receives a portion of the ticket price for each lottery ticket sold. The usual system for distributing instant lottery tickets, on the other hand, is entirely clerical, with the tickets being stored in a drawer and counted out by hand. The store owner typically is responsible for keeping track of the number of tickets sold, making redemption payments up to a certain amount for certain types of winning tickets and for providing such sales and pay-out information to the state. The state in turn calculates the money due from or owing to the store owner and sends an invoice and/or money payment. Given the very large number of stores which now sell lottery tickets, it would be highly desirable to simplify the accounting procedure so as to avoid any mistakes or improprieties by the store owner and to assure proper and prompt payment of all monies due. It would also be valuable to the state to know on a daily basis whether each store owner has a sufficient supply of tickets, as well as how much money is due that day.
Another consideration in lottery ticket distribution is the speed with which the lottery tickets may be sold. It is a frequent occurrence in large cities for long lines of ticket buyers to form at lunch time or after work in order to buy tickets. As mentioned above, the ticket seller has conventionally had to count out and hand instant lottery tickets himself to the customers. It would be highly advantageous and to have a ticket-dispensing unit which would itself dispense instant or other lottery tickets at an outlet where they are easily accessible to the customer.
Still another consideration in a lottery ticket-dispensing unit is security. Particularly when instant tickets are being dispensed, the unsold tickets should be locked up in the unit or drawer to prevent their theft. Since the unit or drawer must be periodically opened to allow a new supply of lottery tickets to be inserted, it is desirable to keep track of when and how often the tickets are replaced. In addition, it may be necessary, for security reasons, to keep track of which lottery tickets were sold from which location, both to detect and prevent forgeries and unauthorized sales and to assist the customers in making complaints, suggestions or the like.
Particularly when a large number of tickets is stored within the dispensing unit, it is an advantageous feature of the present invention to dispense tickets stored in fan-fold form so that they may be rapidly fed out from storage without the risk of unintentionally dispensing too many tickets when separated tickets are stored. There is as yet no standardization in the size of the tickets, which come in various widths and lengths. Furthermore, tickets easily can slip in the dispensing mechanism, or for other reasons can be fed inaccurately. Therefore, it would be highly advantageous to provide a ticket dispensing mechanism to separate the tickets from one another while ensuring that the separation of the tickets occurs only at the joinder line therebetween, dispite the variation in the size of tickets and slippage or inaccuracy in the dispensing mechanism.